Minuartia

Spring sandwort Minuartia verna, copyright Anne Burgess.

Belongs within: Caryophyllaceae.

Minuartia is a genus of herbs found in north Africa, southern Asia and North America (Hickman 1993).

Characters (from Hickman 1993): Annual, perennial, erect to mat-forming, taprooted or rhizomed. Leaf blade thread-like to awl-shaped or narrowly oblong; veins or ribs 1–3. Inflorescence a cyme, terminal or axillary; flowers 2–many, open to more or less dense, or flower solitary; peduncles and pedicels 0.5–35+ mm. Flower with hypanthium short, obscure; sepals 5, more or less free, 1.9–7 mm, more or less lanceolate to ovate, glabrous to glandular-hairy; petals 5 or 0, 0.7–10 mm, entire or notched; stamens arising from an obscure to prominent disk; styles 3.0.3–2 mm. Fruit a capsule, narrowly ovoid to widely elliptic; teeth 3, ascending to recurved. Seeds 1–many, reddish tan to reddish, purplish, or blackish brown.

<==Minuartia
    |--M. bulgarica KB96
    |--M. californica [=Arenaria californica; incl. A. pusilla var. diffusa] H93
    |--M. decumbens H93
    |--M. dichotoma C55b
    |--M. douglasii [=Arenaria douglasii; incl. A. douglasii var. emarginata] H93
    |--M. hirsuta KB96
    |    |--M. h. ssp. hirsuta KB96
    |    `--M. h. ssp. falcata KB96
    |--M. howellii [=Arenaria howellii] H93
    |--M. hybrida PT98
    |--M. kashmirica O88
    |--M. montana C55a
    |--M. nuttallii [=Arenaria nuttallii] H93
    |    |--M. n. ssp. nuttallii H93
    |    |--M. n. ssp. fragilis [=Arenaria nuttallii ssp. fragilis] H93
    |    |--M. n. ssp. gracilis [=Arenaria nuttallii ssp. gracilis] H93
    |    `--M. n. ssp. gregaria [=Arenaria nuttallii ssp. gregaria] H93
    |--M. obtusiloba [=Arenaria obtusiloba] H93
    |--M. pusilla [=Arenaria pusilla] H93
    |--M. rosei [=Arenaria rosei] H93
    |--M. rubella [=Arenaria rubella] H93
    |--M. sinaica DH98
    |--M. stolonifera H93
    |--M. stricta H93
    `--M. verna KB96
         |--M. v. ssp. verna KB96
         `--M. v. ssp. collina KB96

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[C55a] Candolle, A. de. 1855a. Géographie Botanique Raisonée: Ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle vol. 1. Librairie de Victor Masson: Paris.

[C55b] Candolle, A. de. 1855b. Géographie Botanique Raisonée: Ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle vol. 2. Librairie de Victor Masson: Paris.

[DH98] Danin, A., & I. C. Hedge. 1998. Contributions to the flora of Jordan 2. A new species of Satureja (Labiatae) and some new records. Willdenowia 28: 135–142.

[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).

[KB96] Konstantinou, M., & D. Babalonas. 1996. Metal uptake by Caryophyllaceae species from metalliferous soils in northern Greece. Plant Systematics and Evolution 203: 1–10.

[O88] Ohba, H. 1988. The alpine flora of the Nepal Himalayas: an introductory note. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 19–46.

[PT98] Panitsa, M., & D. Tzanoudakis. 1998. Contribution to the study of the Greek flora: flora and vegetation of the E Aegean islands Agathonisi and Pharmakonisi. Willdenowia 28: 95–116.